IRSE News 150 Nov 09.pdf

INDUSTRY NEWS
Further ERTMS Enters Service in the
Netherlands
European Railway Award, 2009
On Sunday 4 October 2009, a consortium of Movares and
Alstom put into service the ERTMS Level 1 implementation on
the railway line in the Port of Rotterdam. This is a railway line of
40 km with many sidings. On the trackside, Level 1 was already
commissioned nine months ago to be able to start operational
and track-train integration testing. The Level 1 equipment was
installed on the existing interlocking (B-relay logic and VPI from
Alstom). The Level 1 was working in parallel with the old
ATB-EG system (Automatische Trein Beïnvloeding - Eerste
Generatie). So there was a good environment for executing
train-borne equipment tests and track-train integration tests.
After the test period, it seemed necessary to do some
optimisation in the Level 1 installation. These small changes
were all installed in August 2009. Some track-train tests were
executed for a second time.
On the night of 3 October, the last trackside changes were
executed; changing panels, activation of the level transition and
deactivated the old ATB-EG system.
On the morning of 4 October 2009, the first freight train ran
with level 1 on the railway line in Port of Rotterdam. The first
level 1 implementation was in service.
We have monitored the first 22 hours of use and indeed,
level 1 behaves as we expected; excellent! During the first days
of operation only a very few number of minor start-up problems
were reported.
Please see IRSE NEWS issue 139 and 140 for more details of
the level 1 implementation.
Ronald Bresser
ronald.bresser@movares.nl
European Railway Award: Hans-Jörg Grundmann (left), Chairman of UNIFE and
CEO of Siemens Mobility presents Bengt Sterner with his Award.
The European Railway Award is organised by the Community of
European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and the
Association of the European Rail Industry (UNIFE). With the
European Railway Award, the European rail sector honours firstly
outstanding political and secondly technical achievements in the
development of economically and environmentally sustainable
rail transport. The jury for the European Railway Award 2009
consisted of CEOs of rail and rail industry companies as well as
stakeholders from the transport sector, including ERTMS
Corridor Coordinator, Karel Vinck, and the Chairman of the
Transport Committee in the European Parliament, Paolo Costa.
First presented in 2007, the European Railway Award 2009
attracted more than 300 guests from all over Europe, including
high-level politicians and transport stakeholders.
In a festive ceremony in Brussels on 20 January, the European
Railway Award 2009 for political achievements was presented to
the Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger. Bengt Sterner,
a leading rail engineer from Sweden, received the European
Railway Award 2009 in the category for technical achievements.
The technical achievements award was presented to Bengt
Sterner by UNIFE Chairman Hans-Jörg Grundmann. As one of
the chief architects of the electronic train control system ERTMS,
Bengt Sterner has largely contributed to the development of rail
interoperability, Hans-Jörg Grundmann emphasised. “Bengt
Sterner can truly be called a founding father of ERTMS and the
railway industry, rail operators and infrastructure managers are
extremely proud to recognise his achievements with the
European Railway Award 2009.” His address after receiving the
award included some critical remarks on the current ERTMS/
ETCS System Requirements Specification, which resulted in a
somewhat mixed reaction from those present!
The Award includes a sum of €5000 which the rules stipulate
has to be donated to a charity of the winner’s choice. As a result
Mr Sterner handed this sum over to the Greenpeace charity later
in the year.
Bengt Sterner, one of the chief architects of the electronic
train control system ETCS, was active in the introduction of the
first electronic interlocking system in Sweden at the end of the
1970s. He also took part in the development of the Nordic
automatic train protection system now used in Sweden and
Norway in 1974. At the beginning of the 1990s he moved to the
European Railway Research Institute (ERRI) in Utrecht to chair the
A200 group in charge of the development of ETCS System
Requirement Specifications. He was responsible for inventing
major principles of ETCS that were finalised in 1997. In parallel
he was involved in the A201 project to harmonise interlocking
systems, before he retired in 1999.
Bengt first became involved with the Institution in 1978 when
he gave a Paper at that year’s Convention in Gothenburg on the
subject of Computerised Interlocking. He has also chaired
sessions in at least two of our London Conferences.
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IRSE NEWS | ISSUE 150 | NOVEMBER 2009